MY LITTLE SISTER (2016)

My Little Sister (2016)
Directed by: Maurizio del Piccolo, Roberto del Piccolo
Written by: Roberto del Piccolo
Starring: Alberto Corba, Astrid Di Bon, David White, Holli Dillon, Lucia Castellano, Mattia Rosellini, Saverio Percudani

MY LITTLE SISTER (2016)
Directed by Maurizio del Piccolo and Roberto del Piccolo

Sheila and her boyfriend Tom are hiking through the woods, on their way to meet their friends, when they bump into axe-wielding Ben who warns them to leave the woodland straight away otherwise the murderous Little Sister will get them. Laughing off his warning, the duo head towards the campsite where they were meant to meet their friends but find them missing. Assuming they’ve wandered off on a hike somewhere, Sheila and Tom settle down for the night but it soon comes to an abrupt end when Ben’s warning becomes reality and they meet the masked killer Little Sister for themselves.

Opening up the film with a man strapped against a wall by his head and a young woman chained up, almost fully naked, horror slasher MY LITTLE SISTER reminds me of the video nasty era except in those films the screaming female victim wouldn’t be wearing any panties. Another female, hidden mostly by the arched hulk of Little Sister, lies on a table and it seems she’s already suffered at the hands of this monster. It doesn’t take long for Little Sister to show us exactly what his plans are for the three innocents locked up in his basement as he gets to grips with a hedge trimmer on the girl on the table but not before slicing that pretty face off the young man…

With a start reminiscent of 70’s horrors, MY LITTLE SISTER looks to be a stronger effort than most brutal horrors on first glance. It’s tale of a couple being hunted down in the woods by the deranged killer might be a common one but the different ingredients throw in, like the Leatherface-esque mask and the backstory as to why the killer does what he does, helps to put an interesting angle on the well-tread genre. However, these initial bloody scenes appear to be as far as the film will push in the gore department as the rest of the movie proves more to be a cat and mouse chase. The mystery of Little Sister and the crispy corpse in the wheelchair soon make themselves apparent and when it does, it’s not hard to piece all the parts of the puzzle together.

Performance-wise, it’s hard to fault the film. Usually films made on a budget contain ropey acting but here the cast do a tremendous job with Saverio Percudani as the hunched-over killer, sniffing around the air like a velociraptor, attempting to sense his prey, whilst Holli Dillon makes a great ‘scream queen’ we can root for. David White’s character of Ben seems a little wasted and only serves as filler fodder to set up certain events but as a whole, all the characters seem to fit well within the film.

Another aspect of the film which captured my attention was how well it was shot. Though it lacks suspense and tension for the most part, a scene involving Sheila and Tom getting intimate will make you sit up straight when you notice the silhouette of an armed stranger cast upon the rear of their tent. It’s one of those moments that you know what’s coming, or at least you think you do, but the two protagonists on-screen have no idea…

A cut above other indie horrors, this Italian-made movie offers something a bit different even though it lacks the red stuff that horrorhounds will no doubt crave after such an intense opening scene.

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